November 19, 2008

US & CANADA | US | VIRGINIA | ROANOKE

Virginia is for Art Lovers

By Nicole Cotroneo

America’s hottest new museum lights up Old Dominion.

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The last time Roanoke received this much attention it was 1884 and the railroad had come to town. This time, the spotlight’s on a $66-million glass-and-steel art museum that just opened alongside the railroad tracks. Designed by a protégé of Frank Gehry, the bold architecture of the Taubman Museum of Art (featuring a glass atrium soaring over 80 feet toward a dramatic angular apex, pictured) was inspired by the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains.

In addition to a permanent collection that includes work by Norman Rockwell, Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent, the museum’s 81,000 square feet houses edgier temporary exhibits including one featuring tattoo drawings. A clutch of jeweled Edith Leiber purses is also displayed in a small room covered in black fabric — each purse floating within a suspended glass bubble.

Still, some things in Old Virginia are better left untouched by the avant-garde. The Homestead (pictured), a sprawling country resort just 70 miles north of Roanoke, has been a favorite of presidents throughout the 19th and 20th century. Its signature brick tower (built in 1829 when JP Morgan owned the property) will unveil a fresh renovation this spring for its 80th anniversary. Meanwhile, this month, the resort’s main dining room unveils its own makeover plus a new menu featuring a reinvented southern classic: chicken fried steak in a truffle-laced cream sauce.

With three golf courses, a luxury spa, eight-lane bowling alley and an Olympic-sized ice rink (to name a few things), The Homestead doesn’t skimp — especially on Christmas. This month, the resort decks its halls with 700 poinsettias, 100 festive wreaths and 3,000 feet of evergreen garland. And on November 26, one lucky child — chosen from among the guests — will flip the switch on 82,000 Christmas lights adorning a 30-foot-tall Christmas tree.